The former Miss Russia is back in a residential rehab center after being charged with forging doctor’s signatures in order to get her hands on prescription painkillers. If Malova completes 18 months of successful treatment, the judge may set her free.

If Malova fails in drug rehab treatment she could be tried for her alleged crimes. In a bit of irony, Malova was a practicing physician when she was back in Russia.

A man named Ayman Joumaa who is currently at large is said to have connections to all of the above listed organized crime entities and the U. S. Treasury Department has said that he has made more than $850 million in drug profits. Joumaa is said to have used a Lebanese Canadian Bank to launder money used in the drug trade. This bank has since been sold because of the investigation.

According to U. S. Attorney Neil MacBride who is prosecuting the case, “Money fuels the drug trade, and Mr. Joumaa is alleged to be at the center of it all – working with those producing the vast majority of the world’s cocaine to get their drugs safely into the hands of Mexican cartels. Organized crime networks know no borders, and neither can U.S. law enforcement.”

In the Middle East, Lebanon is known to be a financial hub and the banks are known for their secrecy similar to the Swiss banks.

According to CBS News, “Those … who have turned around their addictions to alcohol, drugs and other abusive behavior for at least one year are being asked to share their strategies with researchers as part of the National Quit & Recovery Registry. Using social media and other tools, the registry is gathering the lessons of people who have quit tobacco or have been in recovery for addictions that also include gambling, overeating and excessive sexual activity.

“It started in October by the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke. Warren Bickel, director of the Advanced Recovery Research Center at the institute, said the first-of-its-kind registry will shine a light on the recovery process through the unique experiences of those who have shed their addictions.”

According to the National Quit and Recovery Registry (NQRR) no one has yet to catalog the positive strategies that work for people to kick their addictions. And, the good news is that this online resource is available to anyone wanting to break their addiction or learn more about how to break free.

The National Family Partnership (NFP) is running a contest where students who enter can will an iPad2 for themselves and $1,000 for their schools if they win. According to the press release, “Students (K-12) can enter by decorating their homes together with their parents – mailboxes, front doors or fences. Parents (18 or older) can upload photos to www.redribbon.org/enter or www.facebook.com/RedRibbonWeek , and then friends and family can vote for their entry, November 1-15. (In Florida, the contest links are www.informedfamilies.org/contest and www.facebook.com/informedfamilies .) The entries with most votes will win.”

SAMHSA or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (which we recommend on our resources page for those seeking help) is co-sponsoring the event this year. So, if you’re already wearing a pink ribbon for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, then put a red ribbon right beside it for Red Ribbon Week. Or just wear the red ribbon to show your support for this cause.

Last year I had talked about Red Ribbon Week 2010 as well, so check it out to see how it compares to this year’s event.

But, there are a couple of news items this week regarding other addictions that I think that we as a society need to take note of and take action to resolve. The first news article that caught my eye this week was how frequent tanning bed users may be addicted since the UV rays stimulate the same “reward” parts of the brain as other addictions.

The New York Times did a good job in laying out how a recent study tracked results. According to the Times, “The frequent tanners agreed to be injected with a radioisotope that allowed researchers to monitor how tanning affected their brain activity … Brain images later showed that during regular tanning sessions, when the study subjects were exposed to UV rays, several key areas of the brain lighted up. Among those areas were the dorsal striatum, the left anterior insula and part of the orbitofrontal cortex – all areas that have been implicated in addiction. But when the UV light was filtered out, those areas of the brain showed far less activity.”

Now, on the West Coast, the Los Angeles Times has come out with a story about the sign of the times that states that some people are so addicted to technology, they would rather give up caffeine, chocolate or even alcohol rather than their cell phones.

I find this alarming since in 2009, around 448,000 people in the U. S. were injured because of distracted driving (talking or texting) using cell phones. In the same year, two times as many people were killed on the road because of alcohol impairment than distracted driving. But, just 5 years before this alcohol-related deaths beat cell phone deaths 10 to 1.

So, yes, drugs and alcohol can create significant addictions with dire consequences. We also need to be mindful of other addictions that can also cause great harm to self and others, especially if we decide as a society to take no action.

Adding to the mystery is that no illicit drugs or alcohol were found by her bed where she died. She had told a bodyguard that she just wanted to go to sleep. And around six hours later a bodyguard noticed that she wasn’t breathing and called for help.

What we do know is that Amy Winehouse was a chain smoker and liked to smoke crack cocaine as well as drink. In 2008 it was reported that Winehouse’s lung capacity was 70-percent of normal due to her smoking habits.

So, when the results come in, it may be that Amy Winehouse did not die of a drug overdose as some are speculating. It may also be that drugs, alcohol and cigarettes contributed to the demise of her overall health condition, to the point where they were contributing factors to her death.

Note: On October 26, 2011 the speculation ended. Amy Winehouse, according to the coroner, died of alcohol poisoning.

But, anyone who has been around the drug and alcohol field for a while will recognize that Zanny is also a nickname for the prescription drug Xanax. There are also many street drugs that have been given common nicknames and even marijuana is sometimes called by a human name Mary Jane.

Many years ago the Rolling Stones performed a song called “Mother’s Little Helper” which is about a woman using prescription drugs to help her make it through the day.

The Casey Anthony case is a little different in that Zanny, the mother’s little helper was alleged to have been used on Anthony’s daughter instead of herself. The chemical chloroform has also been implicated as an anesthetic that may have been used in this case.

In the Casey Anthony case the drug and alcohol abuse or addiction issues have not been yet fully addressed. It will be interesting in the weeks to come how chemicals, prescription or otherwise, has played a role in this trial.

The program was started 10 year ago and has seen 3,000 people graduate rather than serve jail time. Taylor praised the drug court and Circuit Court Judge Dee Anna Farnell who manages the program. Taylor has had such hits as “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Fire and Rain” and “Something in the Way She Moves.”

One of Taylor’s methods to maintain sobriety is intense physical workouts. The first drug court graduate in the procession was one of Taylor’s backup singers Valerie Carter.

While James Taylor has come clean about his substance abuse problems with heroin it seems that legendary folk singer Bob Dylan has been outted as at one time having kicked a $25 per day heroin habit in the 1960’s. Whether you’ve gone public or not many heroin heroes help others in overcoming addiction and maintaining sobriety and you don’t have to be famous to be a heroin hero to someone.

In a recent interview, Quaid told Newsweek, “My greatest mistake was being addicted to cocaine. I started after I left college and came to Los Angeles in 1974. It was very casual at first. That’s what people were doing when they were at parties. Cocaine was even in the budgets of movies, thinly disguised. It was petty cash, you know? It was supplied, basically, on movie sets because everyone was doing it. People would make deals. Instead of having a cocktail, you’d have a line.”

Quaid said that when he was doing the move The Big Easy in the 1980’s he was a regular user and his life was out of control. He said he was in a band called the Eclectics and was in Los Angeles doing a show and afterwards the band broke up and he had a revelation about the need to get into rehab and away from the blow. And he did.

In the 1990’s however his movie career failed even though he was clean. In 2002, after more than 10 years of sobriety, Quaid made the movie The Rookie in which he regained some of his previous credibility with the critics. Quaid is only one of many famous addicts to seek treatment in rehab and come out the other side. Now, if we can just give Charlie Sheen a shove in the right direction …

I recommend if you start watching the videos that you start with:

“Recovering Heroin Addict – Episode 1: John’s Story”

Heroin has often been dubbed as one of the most destructive and painful drug addictions known to man. The difficulty in kicking the habit comes in the forms of severe relapse, grueling withdrawal symptoms, and even death. Meet John, a former addict that tells his side of the story and explains the lengths he went to get his next high.

If you have some feedback after watching the addiction videos, then please post it here.